We Shy But Not Mongolia and Bolivia

Any country will prosper only if its citizen actively participate in the nation building process. Now, what actually triggers citizen to actively involve oneself in this? Our most common answer would be love for the nation. Love, for sure gets people to do great things but like everything, love has its limits. Correspondingly, our acts or work inspired by that love also has limits.

Is there something else which extends this limit (of love)and inspires us to do something great for our nation and its people? In our opinion, the only other thing is P.R.I.D.E. Yes, pride definitely helps us expand our horizon by a large extent (definitely, even this has limits). If Swami Vivekananda was able to take the West by storm and enlighten them on Hindu dharma, it is not just out of love for our nation but also his pride in the achievements of our ancestors.

This pride is possible if each nation is taught of the gigantic achievements of its ancestors. Bharat has no shortage of such greatness but there is definitely a huge shortage in educating the people on our glorious accomplishments. How many of us know about Baudhayana, Kanada, Sushruta, etc? The core reason for not teaching these is that it will be "non-secular". However, it has been forgotten that unless this pride factor is felt in each Indian, our achievements and drive will be limited. On the other hand, when we realize that our ancestors scaled such peaks, we their sons and daughters can achieve the same, if not greater.

Bolivia's population of 8.5 millions is entirely Christian. In December 2005, Joan Eva Morales was elected as its President with 54% votes. The past European proselytizing colonisers reduced all faiths and cultures of Bolivia into archaeological ruins. Morales’ tribe Aymra’s are only 25 per cent of Bolivians. Obviously he got more votes from other tribes. Not this, but what happened after Morales won is more important. He wore the traditional dress of the priests of his ancestral faith and commenced a pilgrimage. Where?

To the sacred site where the archaeological remains of the Tawanku civilisation that flourished around 500 BC to about the 13th century. That is where his ancestral temple, ‘Kalasasaya’, stands in ruins. He was ‘showered’ with flowers, ‘blessed by the priests’ all the way.

Morales addressed thousands in front of the temple, thanked ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘God’ for his victory and promised to do away with the vestiges of the colonial past. By showing reverence to the ruins of the 13th century temple, Morales was recalling the hidden, suppressed spirit of Bolivia. His pilgrimage to Kalasasaya temple is national programme to rebuild the confidence of Bolivians in themselves and their economy.

Now coming to what is happening in Mongolia. Buddha dharma, the practice, suppressed for decades by the Communist Party, is being reclaimed by Mongolians as an integral part of their national identity. In 1578, Genghis Khan's descendent Altan Khan made Buddha dharma the official religion, installing the Tibetan Sonam Gyatso as Dalai Lama and conscripting males to monasteries instead of into the army.

In 1937, the Soviet-allied Mongolian Communist Party banned Buddhism and persecuted its 100,000-strong priestly class. The government executed nearly 20,000 lamas, and at least 10,000 educated monks. Another 10,000 were sent to Siberian labor camps. Most of the country's 2,000 monasteries were destroyed. But now, the Mongolians are reviving their past glory and culture by reviving Buddha dharma. They are doing what India has been shy to do.

See in contrast the way secular India handled the revered symbols of Indian spirit after freedom. The Indian Cabinet presided by Jawaharlal Nehru decided, as proposed by Sardar Patel, to rebuild at Government’s cost and as a symbol of recalling the spirit of India, the Somnath temple, that was repeatedly devastated by religious intolerance. This was something similar to what Eva Morales is doing now. But Mahatma Gandhi advised Sardar Patel that the people, not the government, should fund the construction.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India, was invited for the consecration. But Nehru objected to the President of ‘secular’ India attending a temple consecration. It turned Somnath temple, a symbol of India’s struggle against religious fanaticism, into an objectionable icon. But Rajendra Prasad defied Nehru and attended the consecration. Not just Somnath. Identical is the Ayodhya issue. The Hindus wanted a temple to be constructed on the spot where they believed Rama was born. Rama was always and is still the greatest symbol of Indian values.

Gandhiji died uttering ‘Hey Ram’. A structure, a mosque, unused from 1936 stood on the spot. Suddenly that unused structure became the symbol of secularism. Secular polity set upon Hindus. The courts and laws were moved against them. Eva Morales goes to the ruins of an ancient civilisation in a cent percent Christian nation. Here Somnath temple becomes an objectionable symbol and Ayodhya temple becomes a target of ‘secular’ India. The contrast is obvious. We do need an Eva Morales to detoxify ‘secular’ India, make them understand that geo-politics is becoming geo-civilisational politics.

Source: LA Times
Gurumurthy.net

Mother or Land?

Once upon a time, there was a family living peacefully and prosperously. One fine morning some street thugs barged in, occupied a portion of their house and lived life in their own “style”. The family though initially resisted the invasion and aggression of their home gradually began viewing the invaders as their own people. Now that these “weeds” were acknowledged as being an integral part of the garden, they demanded a ‘rightful’ share of the house, to which the family accepted. Similar is the story of Bhaaratvarsha where we began viewing the invaders as our associates and finally even made them owners.

Bhaaratavarsha - the land that lies south of the Himalayas, east of Sakadvipa (Seistan), south-east of Vãhlîka (Balkh), west of Burma and between the two seas is verily the punyabhoomi, karmabhoomi and matrubhoomi for millions of people. To us, Bhaaratvarsha is not merely a clod of clay, she is verily the manifestation of Shakthi and rightly worshipped as Bhaarat Mata.

On August 15 1947, she remained stripped of her limbs in the form of present day Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc. Shri HV Seshadri Ji in his book The Tragic Story of Partition says “In the [past] one thousand years many parts of our country had been ruled by the Muslims and then by the British, but the nation had never compromised, in principle, its sovereignty over any part of the motherland. As a result, our nation had never ceased to strive for throwing out the aggressors and liberate those parts. And history tells us that ultimately it did succeed in freeing the entire land from the clutches of foreign invaders. However, for the first time, Partition conceded the moral and legal right to them over certain parts of the country and declared an ignominious finale to the one thousand years old heroic struggle for freedom.”

The effect of this inglorious partition of our nation has been tremendous. The partition displayed for the first time that we have surrendered a national principle that the present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc., are all an integral and inseparable part of Bhaaratvarsha. It is interesting to note an event during the First World War. Germany was defeated and President Berg accepted the authority of France over many German territories in the Treaty of Vermont, as there was no other option. But the same day, he wrote in his diary “My heart will find solace only when the Eagle flag of Germany will flutter there again. Today the land is lost, but this aspiration is inscribed on the heart that is ours.” In the same way, what is sad is not the loss of territory but it is the mindset that caused the loss.

This reveals that we did not view our nation as Bhaarat Mata but just as a piece of land which can be shared with warring factions of our society. In addition, the partitions are a great betrayal to our great heroes who dedicated their whole lives for the cause of Bhaarat Mata. These heroes laid down their lives in vain not knowing that their future generations would hand over their Mother on a platter to the very aggressors whom they had been fighting tooth and nail for more than 1000 years since 636 AD.

Partitions have only made things worse for our nation as we are now surrounded by hostile forces which are vying for our blood every minute. We have given part of our nation to those people who are in every sense antagonistic to the very ideals and ideas which have sustained our race for thousands of years. Those things which were sacred and a pride to us as a nation are verily the objects of hate for the present “occupants” of those lands. Take the example of the Bamiyan Buddha statues which have been dynamited and destroyed. What about hundreds of temples in present day Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Accepting partition also meant that we have implicitly agreed to the views of the Muslim League. The pamphlet Now or Never published in January 1933 by the Indian Muslim students at Cambridge under the leadership of Chaudhari Rehmat Ali, said “India is not the name of single country, nor the home of one single nation. It is in fact, the designation of a state created for the first time in history by the British. Muslims and Hindus do not inter-dine, we do not intermarry. Our national customs and calendars, even our diet and dress, are different. Hence the Muslims demand the recognition of a separate national status.” Have we not conveyed by accepting partition that this was verily true? Don’t many of our Hindu brethren today still feel that we were never a single nation?

Bhaarat is a nation which has respected people of different faiths. It was this nation which gave refuge to Parsees, Jews and others. Such was the nature of our country that we never bothered about the mode of worship. Islam and Christianity are just other modes of worship to an average Indian and hence it does not bother him. The partition of India made it look to the whole world that the majority Hindus of the nation will crush and wipe out the minorities and cannot coexist.

Most importantly, how can we as a nation forget the fact that Islam came as aggressors on a mission to destroy Hindu dharma and convert Bhaarat from Dar-ul-Harb to Dar-ul-Islam? Nowhere on the history of the world have the aggressors been thought of as brothers and handed over a part of the nation because they have a different way of life or because they are a minority. We are being taken on a ride similarly in Nagaland with captions like “Nagaland for Christ”. Do we give them also a part of the nation because they also have a different set of beliefs or because of their minority status?

Lastly, through partition we have displayed that we have no manliness left in us to fight for something which is rightfully ours. This is the reason that Pakistan right from its birth has been waging a war with us in various forms be it direct or proxy. Similar is the case with Bangladesh which is involved in cleansing itself of the Hindu community. If we had displayed the manliness to stand for what we were, we would not be in the present scenario. Thus, it is clear that the partition has sent a lot of subtle messages to keen pair of eyes and set a wrong precedent for the coming generations.

We will see in the next post what we as Hindus could possibly do to avoid being taken for a ride. Most importantly, Happy Independence day! Let's make sure we remember the sacrifice made by our heroes who fought valiantly against the Turks, Hunas, Mughals, French, Portuguese,British, etc not just today but everyday of the year. Vande Mataram!

And The World Remained Silent.....

Why do the secularists and the Human Rights bodies close their eyes on such issues? Why this elective blindness. A story of those who are refugees in their own nation....Shame on us and our silence.

"How to make Circles & Triangles with Squares & Rectangles?"

The following is an extract of an article that appeared in an American daily 10 days before:

While Western history has traditionally taught the Greeks were responsible for advances in mathematics, for things like irrational and prime numbers, Indian history has another story to tell.

Nearly a century before Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and mathematician, Vedic priest scholars had already discovered much of what the Greeks have been given credit for. These scholars made vast contributions to the field of mathematics, dated from 800 to 500 B.C., for the purposes of religion and astronomy.

Winona State University Professor Joyati Debnath will talk about how a period some have referred to as "primitive" was anything but - and they have the mathematical equations and expressions to prove it. "They were constructing sacrificial and burial altars in the shape of falcons and tortoises from square and rectangular layers of bricks - they were skilled craftsmen," Debnath said.

The Vedic period wasn't using the mathematics as philosophy, rather the priests were solving complex real life problems - like constructing sacrificial altars, burial monuments, relative size of the planets, length of the day, conduct of marriage and sacred laws.

Debnath described the problem: How do you make a burial structure that looks like a tortoise or a falcon, using nothing but rectangular bricks, stake and a cord? In other words, how do you make circles and triangles out of squares and rectangles?

To solve the problems, the priests had to have an advanced mathematical understanding of numbers that could tell them precisely how to arrange and trim bricks so that they came together in symmetrical ways. The measurements for the geometrical constructions were performed by drawing arcs with different radii and centers using a cord or "sulba."

P.S: Why cant we be taught Vedic Mathematics in our schools? Does it need a "White Certificate" or Will learning mathematics as explained in vedic texts question our "secular" image? (Another Post on Vedic Mathematics soon!)

Source: Winona Daily

Now Kerala Points to Harappan Civilization

KERALA, INDIA, September 29, 2009: A rock engraving, indicating clear remnants of Harappan culture, has been found in the Edakkal caves in neighboring Wayanad district, linking the Indus Valley civilization with South India.

“There had been indications of remnants akin to the Indus Valley civilization in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, but these new findings give credence to the fact that the Harappan civilization had its presence in the region too and could trace the history of Kerala even beyond the Iron Age,” historian M.R. Raghava Varier said.

The unique symbols integral to the Indus Valley culture traced in Harappa and Mohanjedaro region that stretched upto Pakistan, were found inside the caves during recent excavations by the State Archaeological Department.

Of the identified 429 signs, one was “a man with jar cup”, a symbol unique to the Indus civilization and other compound letters testified to remnants of the Harappan culture, spanning from 2300 BC to 1700 BC, in South India.

Source: Hindustan Times

Our "White Masters" dump Aryan Invasion Theory

Now that our "white masters" have also dumped the Aryan Invasion theory in trash, will the Government of India or more particularly the NCERT change the lies being taught in schools? Read what a study by Indian and Harvard professors says:

The great Indian divide along north-south lines now stands blurred. A pathbreaking study by Harvard and indigenous researchers on ancestral Indian populations says there is a genetic relationship between all Indians and more importantly, the hitherto believed ``fact'' that Aryans and Dravidians signify the ancestry of north and south Indians might after all, be a myth.

``This paper rewrites history... there is no north-south divide,'' Lalji Singh, former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and a co-author of the study, said.

The study analysed 500,000 genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25 diverse groups from 13 states. All the individuals were from six-language families and traditionally ``upper'' and ``lower'' castes and tribal groups. ``The genetics proves that castes grew directly out of tribe-like organizations during the formation of the Indian society,'' the study said.

Source: TOI

Thailand Returns Ancient Treasures to Cambodia

Thailand returned seven 12th-century treasures to its neighbor as both countries pledged to prevent further smuggling of antiquities। The Angkor-era statues, which included six heads of the Hindu god Shiva, were handed to Cambodian officials during an official one-day visit by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva। Widespread looting of Cambodia’s ancient temples has occurred in recent decades, with many items smuggled into Thailand for sale on international antiques markets or to private collectors. The Thai authorities seized the antiquities from smugglers in 1999. Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, said the two sides had agreed to cooperate in stamping out the smuggling of national antiquities. Hun Sen is urging Thailand to return 36 other Cambodian artifacts.

Vedic Perspective On The Environment

The World Environment Day theme this year exhorts people to help combat climate change for our collective survival. It is interesting to know that the ancient Vedas have several references in them on environmental protection, ecological balance, weather cycles, rainfall phenomena, hydrologic cycle, and related subjects that directly indicate the high level of awareness of the seers and people of that time.

Ancient treasures of vast knowledge reveal a full cognizance of the undesirable effects of environmental degradation, whether caused by natural factors or human activities. The protection of the environment was understood to be closely related to the protection of the dyaus or heavens and prithvi or earth. Between these two lies the atmosphere and the environment that we refer to as the paryavaran.

The Rig Veda venerates deities like Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Maruts and Aditya, that are responsible for maintaining the requisite balance. Seers recognised that changes caused due to indiscreet human activities could result in imbalances in seasons, rainfall patterns, crops and atmosphere and degrade the quality of water, air, and earth resources.

The Rig Veda makes a clear reference to the presence of a protective layer – which we know now to be the ozone layer – that filters the harmful rays of the sun and protects the earth and praises the radiation that enters the atmosphere that is responsible for the health of the environment. In a hymn of the Rig Veda the seer prays to the Ashvins for their indulgence for protection against any excessive solar flares that also affect earth’s temperature.

It is remarkable that the people in Vedic times regarded Nature and the environment in a holistic manner and revered each of its constituents and entities by carefully preserving them. “Do not harm the environment; do not harm the water and the flora; earth is my mother, I am her son; may the waters remain fresh, do not harm the waters… Tranquillity be to the atmosphere, to the earth, to the waters, to the crops and vegetation.” This Vedic prayer invokes divine intervention to bless and protect the environment.

Source:Times Of India

50 Year old Footage of Tirupati Balaji Temple

Hindu Temples - What Happened to them?

Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them

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Hindu Hampi in danger

When the whole of South India was overrun by the Muslim invasion, Hinduism was at stake during 13-14 century AD. At this juncture, Vijayanagara Empire with its capital at Hampi was established in 1336 AD with the sole aim of protecting Hinduism. “But for Vijayanagar, Hinduism would have been reduced to a shadow and a mockery” says Dr. P B Desai, a famous historian.

Paes, a contemporary visitor described Hampi as “the best provided city in the world”, and mentioned that it was “as big as Rome”. Abdul Razzak (1443 A.D) says that it was a city “such that eyes have not seen or ear heard, of any place resembling it upon the earth”. With the fall of Vijayanagar Empire, Hampi was completely destroyed by Muslims in 1565 AD. The area is now full of Temple ruins, defaced idols, fort walls etc.

Hampi is now a world famous tourist centre with a rich cultural background. Situated on the bank of Tungabhadra River, it is the abode of the Lord Virupaksheshwara, the presiding deity of the area, which attracts thousands of devotees. During the historical period, Virupaksha was considered almighty wherein no human king or ruler had any power.

The Unesco has recognised it as a great historical place and has listed it under the World Heritage Series. It is even now a place of pilgrimage visited by thousands of devotees everyday.

Such an area is now wantonly defaced by Muslims; a repetition of what was done in 1565 AD. Many ruined Temples have been converted into Dargas. The Eeranna or Virabhadras Temple near the holy Purandara Mantap has been convered into Honnursabi Darga. The Santana Naga Temple is now Sayyad Bagdad Shah Darga. More than fifty Dargas have appeared in Hanumapada valley. Besides Muslims have begun to perform Namaz illegally in places like Hajara Rama Temple and Maranavami Dibba.

Besides thousands of Hippies who flock to Hampi have converted Hampi into a place of amusement and sexual activities. Liquor and other intoxicating materials are for sale in the area. The resorts cater to their needs. In this area, a Kashmir Muslim youth had a sexual union with a cow a few years ago. The Yoga Bhumi of Hampi has been converted into Bhoga Bhumi by these elements.

Neither the Hampi World Heritage Management authority nor the Deputy Commissioner have taken any action to stop such illegal, immoral activities in a sacred place like Hampi.

Source: http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-christian-tirupati-it-is-muslim.html

2000 year old Shiva temple unearthed ahead of Shivarathri

LUCKNOW: Believed to be among the oldest brick shrines in India, Lucknow University’s department of ancient Indian history and archaeology has unearthed a 2,000-year-old Shiva temple as part of its excavation project recently in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district.

‘‘It’s actually a complex comprising five temples,’’ Prof D P Tewari of the Lucknow University said. ‘‘While four temples belong to the Kushana period (1st-3rd century AD or 2,000 years ago), it appears that the primary temple was constructed during the Sunga period (2nd century BC to 1st century AD or 2,200 years ago).’’

The temple site is a mound in Sanchankot in Unnao. The excavations have been going on since 2004, when UGC cleared the project for funding. ‘‘A lot of things have come to fore since we began, but the temple complex has suddenly given impetus to our research,’’ said Prof Tewari.

Spread across an area of 600 acres, the temple is made of baked bricks. In India, most of the brick temples were built in the Gupta period which existed in the fourth century AD. The temple’s architecture is ‘apsidal’ (semi-circular or u-shaped) in nature.

The LU has many artifacts to conclude that Lord Shiva was worshipped in this temple. Prof Tewari said, ‘‘A terracotta seal bearing the legend of ‘Kaalanjar peeth’ in Brahmi script was found from the site in Dec 2008.’’

A shivling, trishul, nandi bull, and a river are inscribed over the seal. The legend of ‘Kaalanjar peeth’ is inscribed just below the river.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/2000-yr-old-Shiva-shrine-found-in-UP/articleshow/4172761.cms

International Conference on Saraswathi Valley civilisation

An international conference on the The Sindhu- Sarasvati Valley Civilization will be held on 21 and 22 February, 2009 in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, California. Dr Nalini Rao, Professor of World Art, Soka University of America and Dr Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University have teamed up together to organize this important conference. Prominent scholars particularly archaeologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians, religious specialists and geneticists would be participating in this conference in order to debate and understand the nature of the interrelation between the Indus or Sindhu and the Sarasvati or Vedic culture(s) from about 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. They would also be attempting to bridge the chronological, linguistic and racial gap between the material and literary cultures of the Indus civilization and Vedic civilization. It is understood that the main focus of this International conference will be on the issues raised by the following questions:

1)Who were the people of Ancient India Civilizations?
2)Were they Vedic Aryan or Indo- Aryan, Indo- Iranian or Dravidians?
3)Has archaeological evidence confirmed the existence of common features of Vedic and Indus culture(s)?
4)Is there an indigenous continuity of the culture in India and Pakistan or did the people come from outside the subcontinent?
5)How does the scientific evidence of the drying of the River Sarasvati play a role in the interpretation of the history and chronology of the civilization?
6)How is the genetic evidence corroborated with archaeological evidences especially regarding the antiquity of the Indian gene?

The prominent scholars who would be participating in the International conference include Jonathan Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin), Carl C. Lamberg-Karlovsky), Dr B B Lal (Archaeological Survey of India) R S Bisht (Archaeological Survey of India), Louis Flam (City University of NY), S R Rao (Archaeological Survey of India, National Institute of Oceanography), Edwin Bryant (Rutgers University), Shiva Bajpai (CSUN) , Vijendra Kumar Kashyap (India’s National Institute of Biologicals), Subhash Kak (Oklahama State University), Ashok Aklujkar (University of British Columbia), Jim G Shaffer (Case Western Reserve University, Dennis Frenez (University of Bologna) and Nicholas Kazanas (Omilos Meleton Cultural Institute, Athens). The aim of the International Conference is to discuss, reconsider and reconstruct a shared identity of the Sindhu (Indus) and Saraswati cultures, using archaeological and other scientific evidence as well as Vedic literature.

Suppressing Indian History - How long?

The following is an article by Francois Gautier, French journalist and writer. He was awarded the journalism prize (Natchiketa award of excellence in journalism) in 2003.  Francois Gautier belongs to a rare (if not extinct) breed of journalists who delve deep into Indian History and expose the truth without any fear. Here is one of his eye-opening article... The anniversary of Ayodhya has come and passed. Once more, many of India's intelligentsia felt that the destruction of the mosque has signalled the end of a certain tolerant India, for which secularism was the unifying factor and has planted a dangerous seed of Hindu "nationalism" in India's psyche. Yet, one should remember that the Hindu 'fundamentalists' did not kill a single soul in Ayodhya, whereas the bombs planted a while later in revenge by Indian Muslims with the help of Pakistan, killed more than 350 innocent human beings. In fact, during its long history, Hinduism has been one of the most peaceful creeds in the world, accepting the reality of different beliefs, never trying to convert -even in a non-violent manner, like the Buddhists did in Asia - and submitting itself rather meekly, except for a Shivaji, a Guru Gobind or a Rani of Jhansi, to numerous invasions. The same thing cannot be said about Islam, whatever N. Ram says in Frontline. Many historians, amongst them Will Durant, Louis Frederick, or Alain Danielou, have remarked that the Muslim invaders were so certain that they were doing their holy duty by razing temples and killing Hindus, that they had recorded down carefully and proudly their deeds in their own archives. Mahmud of Ghazni, for instance, who patronised art and literature, would recite a verse of the Koran every night after having razed temples and killed his quota of unbelievers. Firuz Shah Tughlak, personally confirms that the destruction of Pagan temples was done out of piety and writes: "on the day of a Hindu festival, I went there myself, ordered the executions of all the leaders and practionners of his abomination; I destroyed their idols temples and built mosques in their places". Aurangzeb did not just build an isolated mosque on a razed temple, as Romila Thapar would like us to believe, he ordered all temples destroyed, among them the Kashi Vishvanath, one of the most sacred places of Hinduism and had mosques built on a number of cleared temples sites. All other Hindu sacred places within his reach equally suffered destruction, with mosques built on them. A few examples: Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujurat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya. The number of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb is counted in 4, if not 5 figures. This is a small excerpt of his own official court chronicles: "Aurangzeb ordered all provincial governors to destroy all schools and temples of the Pagans and to make a complete end to all pagan teachings and practices". Or:: "Hasan Ali Khan came and said that 172 temples in the area had been destroyed... His majesty went to Chittor and 63 temples were destroyed. Abu Tarab, appointed to destroy the idol-temples of Amber, reported that 66 temples had been razed to the ground".. Aurangzeb did not stop at destroying temples, their users were also wiped-out; even his own brother, Dara Shikoh, was executed for taking an interest in Hindu religion and the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions. As we can see Romila Thapar and Percival Spear's statement of a benevolent Aurangzeb is a flagrant attempt at negationism (the negation of historical crimes). Even the respectable Encyclopedia Brittannica in its entry on India, does not mention in its chapter on the Sultanate period any persecutions of Hindus by Muslims, except "that Firuz Shah Tughlaq made largely unsuccessful attempts at converting his Hindu subjects and sometime persecuted them". Indian school books seem to have taken their cue from the Encyclopedia Brittannica , as there is hardly any mention of this dark aspect of India's past. But why does India negate its history? We know that Nehru and Gandhi wanted to keep Pakistan within India and wished to avoid the splintering away of Muslim groups. But was it a good enough reason to suppress information about Muslim atrocities during ten centuries of bloody invasions and the massive destruction of Hindu temples ? On the contrary this has only created more terrorism. Denying and suppressing the history cannot keep the harmony. In its place, truth and reconciliation are necessary. Hiding the truth denies sympathy to the victim, civilization and culture. A nation unless, it is ready to face its own history - the Good and the Bad, the Courageous and the Cowardly - can never bloom into its full plenitude. Hidden aspects of its own history sooner or later will surface and bring with them the guilt, anger, regret, which are the necessary ingredients to wipe-off that particular black karma. In Germany, for instance, Germans have been reminded again and again about the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, and that has brought a sense of guilt, which has acted as a deterrent to future atrocities The Jews have constantly tried, since the Nazi genocide, to keep alive the remembrance of their six million martyrs. This has got nothing to do with vengeance. Do the Jews of today want to retaliate upon contemporary Germany? No. It is only a matter of making sure that history does not repeat its mistakes, as alas it is doing today in India : witness the persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, whose 250.000 Pandits have fled their 5000 year old homeland, or the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. To remember, is to be able to look at today with the wisdom of yesterday. No collective memory should be erased for appeasing a particular community. Hiding the facts and justifying past Muslim crimes has led to terrorism in the Indian sub-continent. Muslims were never held accountable. One of the first steps to curb violence is to make one aware of past mistakes. Guilt in the culprit and forgiveness in the victim can put an end to self-righteousness and the kind of terrorism we see today in Kashmir, in spite of India's peace overtures.  Source: http://www.francoisgautier.com/english.html

Photographic evidence of Vedic Influence

If you had read the recently posted talk by the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Swamigal on Vedic influence in the world, you would have been spell-bound. But a little doubt may still exist deep in your hearts as you have not seen them directly. To completely wipe of those doubts, you have to look at the photographs of Stephen Knapp, a researcher on Hinduism.
These photos prove how many ancient Hindu monuments have been Mughalised and are said to be a result of Mughal architecture. The long list of monuments include the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, etc. If the history of the one of the seven wonders of the world can itself be warped by the English educated 'secular' historians, what about thousands of not-so-famous sites?

To have a look at the photos, click this link

Source: 

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/

Fiction in India, Fact in Lanka

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has identified 50 sites relating to the history of Ramayana and decided to promote them through tourism. SLTDA’s Director General S Kalaiselvan that, ‘the fifty sites identified in relation to Ramayana are not imaginary, but have existed since times immemorial’. The Sri Lankan tourism department had appointed a research team for the search & identification process, which was initiated by T Y Sunderesan of an organisation called ‘Ashoka Vatika’ and only after ascertaining the facts relevant to the great Ithihasa.

It is a matter of joy and sadness to compare the actions of the Sri Lankan and Indian governments. One on hand, the Buddhist Sri Lanka takes efforts to research on Ramayana and come up with facts, on the other hand a 'secular' India without any research or study submits a report to the Supreme Court stating that Lord Rama is fiction (it later withdrew the report). The Sri Lankan Parliament has the painting of King Vibeeshana, as he is considered by the people as a just king.

The following is a video on the trail of Ramayana in Lanka. Hope a trail of Ramayana in Bharat also comes up soon.











Source:
http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&id=11872&catid=29
http://www.ashokavatika.org/

Superior Ancient Indian Education System - Proven With Statistics

The British or the West in general have in the past viewed India as a poor and uneducated country (just cant do so now). The following is a report by Sri Dharampal Ji, a scholar and most importantly an unbiased one. The following is a report from the British archives themselves. One more important aspect of these reports is that it has totally destroyed to pieces the myth that the Shudras and other so called backward castes were not educated and were prevented to study by the brahmins and the so-called upper castes. Not ready to believe? Well, read and believe for yourself. Below are just a few valuable points along with some tables from the gigantic work of Shri Dharampal Ji.

*England had few schools for the children of ordinary people till about 1800.

* In his first report, Adam observed:
1) There exist about 1,00,000 village schools in Bengal and Bihar alone around the 1830s, not to talk of the rest of India.
2) The content of studies was better than what was then studied in England. The duration of study was more prolonged.
3) The method of school teaching was superior and it is this very method which is said to have greatly helped the introduction of popular education in England but which had prevailed in India for centuries.
4) The only aspect, and certainly a very important one, where Indian institutional education seems to have lagged behind was with regard to the education of girls.
5) Two on the basis of personal observation & evidence collected he inferred there were app 100 institutions of higher learning in each district meaning app 1,800 such institutions and 10,800 scholars in them.
6) Adam said that he found a number of genuine, qualified medical practioners in Bengal who analyzed the symptoms of the disease before suggesting a cure.
7) In Punjab there were 3,30,000 pupils in 1850 as compared to 1,90,000 in 1882 as per Leitner’s Report.

* Sanskrit books were used to teach grammar, lexicology, mathematics, medical science, logic, law and vedant.






* Sir Sankaran Nair in his masterly Minute of Dissent writes:-

1) Efforts were made by the government to confine higher education and secondary education, leading to higher education, to boys in affluent circumstances
2) Rules were made calculated to restrict the diffusion of education generally and among the poorer boys in particular.
3) Conditions for “recognition” for grants-stiff and various-were laid down and enforced, and the non-fulfillment of any one of these conditions was liable to be followed by serious consequences.
4) Fees were raised to a degree, which, considering the circumstances of the classes that resort to schools, were abnormal.
5) When it was objected that minimum fee would be a great hardship to poor students the answer was such students had no business to receive that kind of education.
6) Managers of private schools, who remitted fees in whole or in part, were penalized by reduced grants-in-aid.

In every Indian village which has retained anything of its form…the rudiments of knowledge are sought to be imparted; there is not a child, except those of the outcastes (who form no part of the community), who is not able to read, to write, to cipher; in the last branch of learning, they are confessedly most proficient.’
- Vide BRITISH INDIA by Ludlow.



Source: ‘The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the 18th century” by Dharampalji. The book reproduces Reports of numerous Surveys undertaken in Bengal, Punjab and Madras Presidency by the British (between 1800-1830) to give you the state of education in India around 1800.

You can download the book at
http://www.samanvaya.com/dharampal/frames/published.htm

The Left Hypocrisy

The following is an excerpt from an article by Shri M V Kamath on the role of the Comrades in the 1942 Quit India Movement. The Left left the Indian struggle for Independence but did not stop with that. It went further to back-stab us by joining the British to crush the Quit India movement. Waah Comrades Waah. Now we know what to expect of you. You may now mortgage India to one of our neighbours in the name of social revolution.

Here goes the excerpts:

August 9, 1942, was the start of the Quit India Movement which shook the nation as nothing else did. Only one party sought to sabotage the Movement and that was the Communist Party of India (CPI).

It is necessary to point out the nature and character of the Communist Party of India and its role as a betrayer of the freedom movement in 1942. As K.K. Chaudhari notes in his brilliantly researched book (Quit India Revolution: The Ethos of Its Central Direction, Popular Prakashan. Mumbai. pp. 440. Rs 500): "There are indeed startling facts and truths borne out by vast documents to prove the charge that the Communists had betrayed the cause of Indian Independence in 1942-1944."

The story of Communist betrayal of the freedom movement is sickening. The CPI newspaper kept denouncing Gandhiji and Subhas Chandra Bose as "blind Messiahs" and accused them of decadence. In February 1941, the Communist wrote that "the national movement under bourgeois leadership has entered into a blind alley". The Communists heaped abuse on Gandhiji, the Congress. Jayaprakash Narayan and Subhas Babu, and denigrated the clarion call of "Do or Die" as an indication of bankruptcy of thought. Not long after Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.

The Communist leader, P.C. Joshi went on his bended knees to Sir Reginald Maxwell, the Home Secretary, pledging his help to sabotage the Quit India Movement. Chaudhari says that "on many occasions the Communists were indeed more royalist than even the King of England". In submissions to Sir Reginald, Joshi showed what a splendid job he and his party were doing to break up the Quit India Movement. Chaudhari writes that the 120-page report "could not have been improved by any other collaborator of the British or by any quisling".

Joshi was so anxious to prove the CPI's utility to the British rule that he claimed that he was doing a better job of stemming the Quit India Movement, of denouncing Subhas Babu and leaders of the Congress underground. than the government itself! Notes Chaudhari: "The tone and contents of Joshi's performance report reveal crystal clear what the CPI had done to sabotage the 1942 movement."

In order to win over British support, the CPI indulged in the most disgusting acts of self-abasement. A party convention, held in Mumbai from May 23 to June 1, 1943 came out abusing the Congress to its heart's content. Subhas Babu was called a Fifth Columnist. Assistance was offered to the bureaucracy in intelligence work against underground Congressmen. In the process several of these underground workers were betrayed by the CPI to the police, who subjected them to exquisite torture.

Worse still, the CPI felt impelled to support the Muslim League in its demand for the vivisection of India. Writes Chaudhari : "By incessant and vociferous repetition Communists proclaimed the thesis that (1) India was not one nation but a collection of several separate nationalities. (2) the demand for Pakistan is a just and democratic one because Hindus would oppress them in future; (3) the Muslim League itself has become progressive and secular and Jinnah himself was secular and anti-religious and (4) the Congress must concede to the Muslims the right to self-determination."

Source: The Communist Role in Quit India Movement, M V Kamath in The Organizer

Was his motive right or wrong? Decide for yourself

Before reading what is below, I would like to remind you of a small but significant incident in the lives of Mahakavi Bharathiyar and Sri Aurobindo. They were once having tea and involved in a heated argument about something. Either of them was not willing to listen to the others viewpoint. They continued to stick to their stand and went on with their arguments. Suddenly, a mystic called Kullasamy came and emptied their tea cups and ran away. This angered Bharathiyar tremendously and he yelled at Kullasamy for his act. Sri Aurobindo controlled Bharathiar and said 'Dont be angry, I feel he gave us some message through his act'. Bharathiar was puzzled and asked 'What is the message?'. To which Sri Aurobindo replied 'By emptying the cups, he asked us to empty our minds and think afresh'. Often, we are caught up with our own prejudices that we dont evaluate our own thoughts. We are taught a lot of things at school, home, in public places, etc, but do we actually verify them without any bias? The answer for majority of the times is a NO. The following is an extract from the statement of Nathuram Godse, who killed Gandhiji. Read Godse's statement in the court and think for yourself whether Nathuram Godse was justified in his motive to kill? I ask you to just weigh his motive and think about the situation prevalent that time and what would you have done if you where in his shoes? Make sure to empty your minds of all biases which have been embedded in our minds from childhood and think for yourself.



This is the statement of Nathuram Godse in the court:

"Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone.......

I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and’ Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done. All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen......


To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well being of all India, one fifth of human race....

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them.

I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history’s towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit......


Gandhi’s pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu....

All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus. From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus.... The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi’s infatuation for them.... The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947.

This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls ‘freedom’ and ‘peaceful transfer of power’. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called ‘freedom won by them with sacrifice’ - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan.

Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever....

I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

-NATHURAM GODSE

For full statement visit
http://ngodse.tripod.com/defense.htm

What transpired in the 1857 war of Independence

1857 War of Independence

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